LAKELAND, Fla. – Florida Southern College men's basketball bounced back from last week's loss with an 85-73 win over Lincoln University (Pa.) Saturday afternoon at Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House.
"Good win for us against a good team," Head Coach
Mike Donnelly commented after the win Saturday. "Happy with our effort today. We challenged the guys at halftime to come out in the second half and play with energy, intensity and focus on the defensive end, and I thought we did a really good job to take control of the game halfway through the second half."
Donnelly added, "I was pleased with how connected we were and that carried over to the guys collectively playing with a lot more confidence this afternoon."
The Moccasins (4-1) saw
Alex Steen and
Akol Arop drop double-doubles with 14-12 and 15-11 (points-rebounds), respectively to pace the team on the court. Steen netted a game-high six blocks, which tied hie career-high from a year ago.
Luke Anderson led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field with a pair of three-pointers and a 5-for-6 mark from the free throw line. Anderson added seven rebounds, and five assists.
Behind Anderson, Arop, and Steen,
Erickson Bans added 11 points in 22 minutes of action with
Joe Moon IV and
Donovan Smith each with nine off the bench. Moon went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc while Smith went 3-for-4 in his 17 minutes of action.
The Tigers (2-2) saw four players in double-figures paced by Aidan Anderson with 13 points, followed by Bakir Cleveland with 11, and Peter Sorber and Reggie Hudson each with 10.
Alex Steen got things started off Saturday night with a quick jumper before the two teams would trade points for nearly the first seven minutes. The Tigers would claim the largest lead of the opening minutes of four, 17-13, and push to their largest lead of eight, 23-15 with 11:27 to play in the opening frame.
After an
Erickson Bans three, the Mocs would use a fast tempo to cut the game to just one, 23-22, after back-to-back plays by Steen downlow. Another Bans three tied things at 25 with 8:39 on the clock.
Florida Southern continued to push and captured a four-point lead, 36-32 and 38-34 before
Joe Moon IV drained a three for a seven-point lead, 43-36 with 1:14 to play. The Tigers would hit a jumper in the paint to make it a five-point lead, a lead the Mocs carried into the break 43-38.
Dominick Denny and Steen opened the scoring in the second half to get the Mocs rolling again to a nine-point lead, 47-38, before a Tiger three from Aidan Anderson cut it back to six. Arop and Steen once gave the Mocs their first double-digit lead of 10 with 16:41 remaining.
Over the next six minutes, Florida Southern used a 18-5 scoring advantage to push the lead to 23, 69-43. The Moccasins carried the double-digit lead to the final buzzer for the teams fourth win of the year, 85-73.
Florida Southern will once again take a week off before hosting the Mocs Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 24-25 inside the Jenkins Field House where the Moccasins welcome in Sunshine State Conference foe Saint Leo as a playing partner against North Georgia and Catawba.
Saint Leo and North Georgia start the weekend games at 5:30 p.m. on Friday before Florida Southern and Catawba tip at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's games will see the Lions and Indians tip at 5:30 before the Mocs and Nighthawks at 7:30 to close the weekend tournament.
